Hack #1: Draft subject lines that are compelling and/or
intriguing. Look through commercial emails you have opened
recently. Often they have compelling words in their subject lines
such as “free” or “sale.” Sometimes they provoke curiosity, with
phrases such as “bad news.” Often they promise useful information
you desire with titles starting with “how to”. Study headlines on
the covers of your favorite magazines. Every headline is written
to draw you in. Use those headlines as templates for your email
subject lines.

2. Email click-through rates. The purpose for
getting the recipient to open your email is the next action.
Most often, you want the recipient to click on a link to buy your
product or service, schedule a time to speak, download a report
or whatever moves the process forward. Measuring the click
through rate is crucial to improving your email marketing.

Hack #2: To maximize click through, offer multiple links
promoting the same thing. The more opportunities to click, the
more likely they will click. Make your links “pretty.” More
people will click on “Download Your Free Report” than will click
on http://www.your site.com/report/h5the.html

3. Earnings per click. Your recipient opened
your email. You persuaded them to click. How much revenue or
profit did you generate each time someone clicked? The next
key metric to measure and improve is Earnings Per Click (EPC).

4. Email unsubscribe rates. It takes the same
time to email 1,000 prospective customers as 10,000 prospective
customers. When a recipient unsubscribes from your emails, you
lose a potential customer you worked hard to get.

Hack #4: Your subject line is a promise. If it says “how to lose
10 pounds,” the content of your email must answer or support it.
If it doesn’t, readers will be upset and unsubscribe.Offer
readers value, not just a pitch. Don’t send emails just to
promote your products, services and company. Use your expertise
to offer good “how to” advice and educational content. The goal
is for people to WANT to receive your emails. That occurs when
you give them value.

Measuring results is crucial to improving results. Increasing
performance in each of these four areas will quickly grow your
email marketing revenues.

For example, consider Company A who starts with a list of 5,000
subscribers, has an open rate of 15 percent, a click through rate
of 10 percent, an earnings per click of $25 and a monthly
unsubscribe rate of 5 percent. In their second month of email
marketing, this company would generate $1,781 in revenue.

Conversely, Company B, improves each of these rates by 20
percent. Also starting with 5,000 subscribers, they would have an
open rate of 18 percent, click through rate of 12 percent,
earnings per click of $30 and a monthly unsubscribe rate of 4
percent. In their second month of email marketing, this company
would generate $3,110 in revenue. That’s 75 percent more than
Company A.

Email marketing is a highly effective marketing strategy. Follow
these tips to measure and maximize each of the four key metrics
above and you quickly realize significant profits from your
efforts.